Date: April 14, 2025
It is hard to observe Holy Week at Seminary. Classes need to continue. Contextual Ministry sites make certain demands. The space to pause and walk the week with Jesus is difficult to find. Yet it is Holy Week. It is the week when the ministry of Jesus reaches its climax. When the forces of sinfulness confront the incarnation of Love and Justice in the tangled web that culminates in the cross and Good Friday.
One contentious practice that divides specialists in liturgy is the crossing of oneself at the Benedictus (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord) in the Great Thanksgiving. It is true that unlike the crossing of ourselves at the Absolution or the Blessing, this is not a moment when we receive a grace from God. Yet for me it is a powerful moment in the liturgy. On Palm Sunday, the people have cried “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. On Good Friday, the people will cry “Crucify Him”. I cross myself to remind myself afresh that I am broken, frail, and self-interested. And human praise of God can moments later be a deep desire to resist God. This contradiction that makes us all human is captured by the simple act of crossing myself at the Benedictus.
Have a blessed Holy Week everyone. And may God help you to find a pause here and there to remember the journey of our Lord.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary.